SW Junior Legion bounces back in Regional win

SOUTH WINDSOR — The South Windsor junior American Legion baseball team could have packed it in. They had, after all, been defeated 10-0 by RCP in the state tournament. But knowing they had another tournament left to come, the Regional, which South Windsor was slated to host, the team simply used the blowout loss as fuel.

“I think in some cases maybe getting thumped did help us,” South Windsor manager Craig Zimmerman said. “We clearly knew that we needed to raise it up a level and we did things, like scoring 12 of 18 runs with two outs. We made just two errors total in three games and none in the championship game. Everybody did something to help us win. We had three injuries during the year so some people stepped up, and it was nice to see everybody at the fence everybody into the game.”

In the title game, South Windsor downed Riverside, Rhode Island 8-1. Nick Romaniello pitched a complete game while offensively Dan Ray and Adam Bettigole had two hits to lead a balanced eight hit attack.

“We knew at the beginning of the year we were going to be in the regional,” Zimmerman said. “We wanted to qualify for the state tournament and do well when we got there. We were actually 10-runed in the final eight by RCP which wound up in the championship game. The thing that impressed me most all summer was that everybody was able to regroup after that, we had another opportunity, and we played very solid for three games. We did a lot of little things to win games. “

In its first game of the tournament, South Windsor defeated Westbrook, Maine 6-3 behind David Caye’s complete game and two RBI from Bryan Bakas and Adam Bettigole .

In Game No. 2, South Windsor inched by Nashua, New Hampshire 2-1 in 8 innings with Adam Bettigole on the mound allowing only two hits while striking out six.

“What I liked the most about the tournament, in addition to winning of course, was the way we played together,” the coach said in an email. “The enthusiasm we showed, especially during Saturday nights win against New Hampshire.”